John explained his situation, and Alex chuckled. "I might have a solution for you," he said. "I have an old repackaged version of PL/SQL Developer 14 that I downloaded from a reliable source. It's free, but I need to verify that it's legit."

However, as he launched the application, he was greeted with a nagging license key prompt. His company had purchased a license, but the key was nowhere to be found. The IT department had recently undergone a restructuring, and it seemed like the license key had gotten lost in the shuffle.

John tried to search for the key online, but all he could find were vague references to "PL/SQL Developer 14 License Key Repack Free" and other suspicious-looking websites offering cracked software. He knew that downloading pirated software was a no-go, not only because it was against company policy but also due to the potential security risks.